Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

On November 16, 2012, I paid Groupon $149 (using American Express) to buy a series of five 2-hour house cleanings through Klean as a Whistle in McDonough, GA. Theyve no-showed two appointments and arent returning calls. I want a refund of the unused value of the voucher ($149 for 5 visits = $29.80/visit. I have had one house cleaning, so balance due me is $119.20.)

Details are as follows:

November 17, Klean as a Whistles owner Jason McKenzie contacted me to set up 5 appointments: 30Nov at 10am, and 14Dec, 28Dec, 11Jan, and 25Jan all at 8am. The company called me at 1040am on 30November to advise they would be late. Mrs. McKenzie said they would be at my house by 2:30pm. When they had not arrived, I finally called her at 3:07pm. After a series of conversations, she finally cancelled that day's appointment.

I agreed to give them a 2nd try on our schedueld 14December appointment. She and Mr. McKenzie did show up (20 minutes late), provided the full 2 hour cleaning service, and reconfirmed our 8:00am appointment for December 28.

On December 28, the McKenzies failed to call me and failed to show up. I called both of their telephone numbers, and texted them, and have had no response.

At 10:13am on December 28, I contacted Groupon. (After a failed appointment and a no-show, I no longer have confidence that the company - Klean as Whistle - will actually deliver on their promise for 5 house cleanings).

I called Groupon's 888-788-7858 number and spoke with representative Cindy in the Oxford, OH call center. She advised she could give me the partial credit of $119.20, but only in the form of Groupon Bucks. As it turns out, these are the same as a store credit. In other words, Groupon is refusing to refund my money. Instead, they insist on keeping it (and collecting interest on it, along with the money they are most likely holding hostage from other customers). Groupon's answer to this service failure is to try to force me to buy something else from Groupon or simply lose my money.

I asked to be transferred to a supervisor, and was connected with Lauren, who identified herself as a team leader. She reiterated Groupon policy, and when I requested to speak with her manager, refused to transfer the call. I asked for the manager's name (apparently it is "Nathan"), and Lauren said he is not available. I asked to speak with any manager. Lauren stated there are no managers anywhere at Groupon today. I asked her to have someone call me. She refused, stating that they might not call me, they might not even e-mail me. She said that even if they do send me an e-mail, it will simply reiterate their policy.

I then asked Lauren for their consumer affairs number at corporate headquarters. She didn't know, and said the number I called is the only telephone number for Groupon. (Actually, shes wrong. After ending our call, I spent considerable time online and found a merchant number 888-582-4354. However, when I called it, their rep Steve hung up on me when I asked for a manager.)

So, what is it that I want? Easy. I want Groupon to credit $119.20 back to my American Express account - the same account I've used for the numerous Groupon purchases Ive made. I don't want their Groupon store credit. I didn't pay them with a store credit. I should not be forced to buy something from Groupon that I may not want or need in order to "get my money's worth".

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

AUTHOR: Mari - ()

SUBMITTED: Wednesday, April 17, 2013

POSTED: Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Update: After numerous calls and e-mails to GroupOn, they finally did refund my purchase price.

Rebuttal: The GroupOn was actually offered by the husband and wife team who owned the business, and were, according to my telephone conversation with the husband, going to perform all of the services themselves. They decided to use GroupOn to "get their name out there", according to my conversation with the husband/business owner. As it turns out, apparently they just wanted to bring in some cash. If they didn't have the intention to actually perform the services (which became obvious), they shouldn't have offered the deal.

AUTHOR: Nabil - ()

SUBMITTED: Monday, April 15, 2013

POSTED: Monday, April 15, 2013

I want you to understand that you have basically hired a slave from a 3rd Party and then got upset that they eloped. Let us analyze the deal itself. I don't know how much a 2 hour house cleaning is these days but I am wiling to bet my life and soul that it is more than what My friend at Arby's gets payed for half the time ( 1 Hour). You stated that the 2 Hour House Cleaning was 29.80 which would mean Groupon and the Merchant both got $14.90. <($7.45 /Hour)

So as it turns out the Merchant is now earning about the same as my Friend at Arby's but lets look deeper now. In some states sales tax is required for any service type job so The Merchant will need to collect the tax from you because Uncle Sam requires a cut as well. That cut varies but lets say it's only 7% meaning if you didn't tip our Merchant is now earning less than minimum wage.

"So how much you make cleaning for Groupon?"
"Well, Sub-Minimum wage."
"Hey, Arby's has a hiring sign, you should just quit and apply there."
"Good lookin-out Chuck!"

I read these reports because they amuse me. Great Website. I advise all you to call the merchant running a deal and pay them directly for any package that you want. Then they can start to earn a little something even if you are never going to return because you only want discounted services. That is called helping the economy and eliminating the middle man. Thank you for reading my post.

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.